violoncello
nounUK /ˌvaɪələnˈtʃɛləʊ/ · US /ˌvaɪələnˈt͡ʃɛloʊ/
Etymology A borrowing of Italian violoncello (“little violone”), from violone (“an early form of the double bass”) + -cello (“-elle”, forming diminutives), violone itself being derived from viola + -one (“-oon”, forming augmentatives).
1
Synonym of cello.
- A tentative violoncello is playing, invisible and plaintive, then stops with an asthmatic scrape of catgut.2002, Michel Faber, The Crimson Petal and the White, Canongate Books (2010), page 110:
- Preserved under the rock-hard amber varnish was a beautifully crafted mythological scene depicting a nude man in a lush landscape playing a violoncello to a rapt audience of peaceful animals, including a jaguar, lion, swan, fox, peacock, horse, parrot, dogs, badger, deer, bull, ostrich, and no less than an elephant coming over the hill to join them.2016, Fred R. Kline, Leonardo’s Holy Child, Pegasus Books Ltd., →ISBN: